Baron To Replace Brauchli As Washington Post Editor

WASHINGTON (AP) — Marcus Brauchli, the executive editor of The Washington Post for the last four years, is stepping down at the end of the year and will be replaced by Marty Baron, editor of The Boston Globe.

Brauchli will become vice president of The Washington Post Co., working with Chairman Don Graham “to review and evaluate new media opportunities,” the company said.

Marty Baron, 58, has been editor of the Globe since July 2001. In that time, the newspaper has won six Pulitzer prizes. Baron started his career as a reporter at the Miami Herald in 1976. He joined the Los Angeles Times in 1979 and became business editor in 1983. He went to The New York Times in 1996 and a year later became associate managing editor responsible for the nighttime news operations. He returned to the Herald to become executive editor in 2000.

He will start at the Post on Jan. 2.

“We are thrilled to have Marty Baron lead The Washington Post’s newsroom, said Katharine Weymouth, the Post’s publisher and a member of the Graham family that controls The Washington Post Co., in a statement. “He has a demonstrated record of producing the highest quality journalism, which matches the legacy and expectations of The Post.”

Brauchli, 51, was hired by the Post in July 2008 after resigning as managing editor of The Wall Street Journal following its purchase by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. He said at the time that the new owners should have an editor of their choosing.

Brauchli’s hiring was one of the first big moves by Weymouth, 46, who became publisher in February 2008.

Brauchli led the Post to four Pulitzer prizes. As the Post experienced declines in circulation and print advertising revenue, he also presided over a period of cost cutting, which included employee buyouts. The Post Co. sold its money-losing Newsweek magazine in 2010 for $1.

“Marcus has contributed immeasurably in the more than four years he has been at the helm of this newsroom,” Weymouth said in a statement. “Under his leadership, we have become one newsroom publishing on multiple platforms, traffic has grown substantially and we are consistently recognized as among the most innovative mainstream news sites.”